Math and Science Teacher Program Gets a Boost

An innovative program at UT Dallas aimed at improving the quality of math and science teachers recently received part of a $200,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase through the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI).

The $50,000 grant will support induction services for new graduates from UTeach Dallas, a program that prepares science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) majors to be secondary science or math teachers. The University of California at Berkeley, Florida State University and Louisiana State University UTeach programs each also received grants of $50,000.

“This generous grant will help ensure that UTeach Dallas graduates will continue to make a smooth transition from the role of student into that of teacher,” said Dr. Mary Urquhart, co-director of UTeach Dallas.

Established at UT Dallas in 2007 with support from NMSI, UTeach Dallas is administered by the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. The program offers paid internships, scholarship opportunities and four-year degree plans that allow students to earn secondary teaching certification while simultaneously completing degrees in STEM fields.

“Supporting teachers through an induction program is an essential part of the highly successful UTeach model,” said Dr. Mary Urquhart, co-director of UTeach Dallas and head of the Department of Science and Mathematics Education. “This generous grant will help ensure that UTeach Dallas graduates will continue to make a smooth transition from the role of student into that of teacher. We are thrilled to be one of the four universities selected from among the UTeach replication sites to receive this funding.”

The original UTeach program was founded at UT Austin in 1997. The program was specifically created to attract a wide range of bright science, mathematics and computer science majors into secondary teaching careers, to prepare them through an advanced field-intensive curriculum, and to promote professional retention through induction support and ongoing professional development.

The grant from JPMorgan Chase will be used for induction training to help UTeach STEM graduates make the transition from college to public school classrooms.

“This welcome support from JPMorgan Chase will help create a new generation of math and science teachers in the United States,” said Dr. Mary Ann Rankin, CEO of NMSI. “Our nation needs an additional 280,000 math and science teachers by 2015, and the UTeach program is playing a key role in providing those teachers.”

Twenty-nine American universities currently are implementing UTeach programs, according to the UT Austin-based UTeach Institute. As of Fall 2011, more than 5,500 math and science college students were enrolled in UTeach programs nationwide. The UTeach Institute projects graduates of the program will be teaching about 4 million secondary math, science and computer science students by 2018.

The National Math and Science Initiative was established in 2007 by top leaders in business, education and science to reverse the decline in American math and science education. NMSI is dedicated to improving the U.S. public school system by multiplying best practices across the country.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.3 trillion and operations in more than 60 countries. The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business and commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset management and private equity.